Said Nursi and Hidden Turkey

Lecture by Fred A. Reed

Date: Thursday June 12, 2008

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Location: Auditorium, Noor Cultural Centre

Admission: $5

Author Fred A. Reed will speak about the life, times and heritage of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, the great Kurdish-Turkish mystic and reformer whom he wrote about in Anatolia Junction. Reed will sketch out a historical portrait of Said Nursi, discuss his contribution to the preservation of belief in Republican Turkey, and the long-term impact of his message in the country today. As mis- and disinformation about Turkey is rampant in our society, this talk provides an opportunity to reflect on another way of understanding past and future.

Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1939, and a Québec resident since 1963, Fred A. Reed worked at The Gazette, where he was a union leader, before becoming a free-lance journalist. He has been a contributor to Le Devoir, La Presse, CBC and Radio-Canada. At the same time, he pursued a career as an author, writing books on the Balkans (Salonica Terminus), Syria (Shattered Images), Turkey (Anatolia Junction), and Iran, including Persian Postcards, Takeover in Tehran (with Massoumeh Ebtekar) and Conversations in Tehran (with Jean-Daniel Lafond). He has translated many works of Modern Greek and contemporary Québécois literature, and has won three Governor General’s Awards for translation, twice for works by the late Thierry Hentsch (Imagining the Middle East and Truth or Death). After a lengthy spiritual journey, he became a Muslim in 2004.